Normally the Linux dynamic loader ld-linux (see ld-linux(8) man page) finds and loads the shared libraries needed by a program, prepare the program to run, and then run it. The shared libraries (shared objects) are loaded in whatever order the loader needs them in order to resolve symbols. LD_PRELOAD is an optional environmental variable containing one or more paths to shared libraries, or shared objects, that the loader will load before any other shared library including the C runtime library (libc.so) This is called preloading a library. Preloading a library means that its functions will be used before others of